Wounded Warrior Project

Every year, thousands of combat veterans return home with life-changing injuries. We praise these service men and women during their time fighting for our freedom, but often times, once they arrive back home, they are no longer given the praise and support they deserve. Although, through the support of the Wounded Warriors Project, the brave men and women who fought for our freedom and were injured in the process now have a voice to stand up for them when others will not.

The Wounded Warrior Project serves veterans and service members who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound, co-incident to their military service on or after September 11th, 2001 and their families. For WWP, there is a distinct difference between members and alumni; an alumnus indicates a mutual shared experience and denotes your place in an organization was earned. There are no dues here; wearing the uniform on the battlefield paid those. There are no members in this organization; just brothers and sisters who paid the price for the country they love dearly.

With advancement in battlefield medicine and body armor, an unprecedented percentage of service members are surviving severe wounds or injuries. For every US soldier killed in World Wars I and II, there were 1.7 soldiers wounded. In Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, for every US soldier killed, seven are wounded. Combined, over 48,000 servicemen and women have been physically injured in the recent military conflicts. In addition to physical wounds, it is estimated as many as 400,000 service members live with the invisible wounds of war including combat-related stress, major depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Another 320,000 are believed to have experienced a traumatic brain injury while on deployment.

The vision of the Wounded Warriors Project (WWP) is to foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation’s history. The WWP takes a holistic approach to serving warriors and their families to nurture the mind and body, and encourage economic empowerment and engagement. Through a high-touch and interactive approach, WWP hopes to work with the warriors to become well adjusted to their new position in life. As of September 2014, WWP has registered 57,951 warriors with the program, as well as 8.115 families.

With the mission to honor and empower Wounded Warriors, WWP is the hand extended to encourage warriors as they adjust to their new normal and achieve new triumphs. By offering a variety of programs, The Wounded Warrior Project is equipped to serve warriors with every type of injury – from the physical to the invisible wounds of war. They fought for us to the freedoms that we treasure so dearly, so why shouldn’t we treasure these men and women who gave us their all for us? For more information about the Wounded Warriors Project, visit woundedwarriorproject.org for more details.